Monday, September 20 top stories
It is Monday, September 20. Hope your weekend went well. Here are today’s top stories.
On Sunday afternoon, the FBI announced they found a body that matched the description of the missing van traveler Gabby Petito in Teton County, Wyoming. There will be an autopsy on Tuesday, which will confirm the identity — and if it is Gabby — provide clues about how she died. This location was where Gabby made her last phone call with her family on August 25.
Gabby was traveling across the U.S. with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie. The couple posted pictures and videos and appeared to be a happy couple, but there were signs there were problems with their relationship. It was revealed in the news last week that police had to separate the two on a domestic violence call in Moab, Utah on August 12.
What may have helped the FBI find the body was a video by another travel blogger, Jen Bethune, who happened to be driving and filming in a camping area in the Tetons on August 27. She drove past Gabby’s white van, which was parked on the side.
Gabby’s fiancee Brian drove the van by himself from the western U.S. to his parents’ house in Florida on September 1. Gabby’s family did not hear from her during that time and reported her missing on September 11. Brian has refused to talk to the police or media about where he last saw Gabby and fled the home last week amid increasing media scrutiny.
Police officers are now searching for Brian at a large forested area in Sarasota County, Florida, because that’s where Brian’s parents said he went.
Fox News reporters stationed at Brian’s parents’ house showed FBI agents coming inside and outside of the house. They had a search warrant and were seen talking with the parents. There is still a lot of activity around the house and a car was towed away from the house this afternoon. At the time of writing and signing this news, the search for Brian is ongoing.
Pfizer and BioNTech said the results of their Covid-19 vaccine trials on over 2,000 children ages 5 to 11 shows that they are safe and effective. The children received either two doses of the vaccine or two doses of saltwater placebo. Pfizer said data showed that children who got the vaccine produced a strong immune response with high levels of antibodies. Pfizer said children only need about a third of the dose that teenagers and adults normally receive, and that the side effects are similar.
What is next? Pfizer will submit data from the trial to the FDA and wait for their review and possible emergency use authorization. If they are approved, vaccines may be available for the 5-11 age group at the end of 2021.
Pfizer said they are working on vaccines for children under 5 years old and are conducting trials with results expected at the end of the year.
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In Russia, there was a mass shooting at a university in a city named Perm. A student used a hunting rifle to kill six people and wound many others. Videos on social media showed students jumping out of second-story windows and running away. The gunman was shot by law enforcement and is now in a hospital.
Reuters reported that the gunman posted on social media an image of himself holding a rifle while wearing a helmet. He said in the posting that he was doing this out of hatred.
Reuters explained that Russia generally has strict restrictions on firearms, but there have been several school shootings with the worst one in 2018 with 20 victims.
SpaceX successfully completed its mission to launch four civilians into space and orbit the Earth for three days. Its Dragon capsule landed into the Atlantic Ocean off Florida on Saturday night. It is historic because it is the first all-civilian flight crew. The team raised over $200 million for St. Jude Children’s Research.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was asked on Twitter why he thinks President Joe Biden hasn’t acknowledged the mission. Musk replied, “He’s still sleeping.”
The Guinness World Records said Japanese sisters Umeno Sumiyama and Koume Kodama are the world’s oldest living identical twins at an age of 107 years and 330 days. They’ll be 108 soon. The sisters were born in 1913 but were separated early in their life and lived most of their adult lives away from each other. They started meeting regularly when they were in their 70’s and would go on pilgrimages together. They currently live in separate nursing homes.
The White House announced that foreigners who fly to the U.S. will be allowed entry if they have proof of vaccination and a negative Covid-19 test. The new rules will be in place beginning in November.
The land border policies barring non-essential travel from Mexico and Canada are still in place with no changes.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/gabby-petito-search-intensifies-for-brian-laundrie
https://www.foxnews.com/media/gabby-petito-van-wyoming-travel-blogger-search-body
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/20/health/covid-children-vaccine-pfizer.html